DAY 23: BREAKFAST

[norainu]

That hadn't felt like an entire night.

And his goddamn head hurt. Pounded, even. Enough that he wondered if he was going to end up playing another round of "Christen the nurse" this morning.

Maybe it was because he'd spent so much time and energy trying to find Nowe. That could be the reason behind both those problems. Just the thought of it made his stomach turn, made him want to fucking choke something.

Still, there was shit to do. He forced himself out of bed to put away his pens and the other leftovers from the adventures that didn't happen last night. He'd have to try to talk to Sora today, to see if they could just do tonight what they were going to do last night... and to see if the kid was doing alright.

...he just wished his head would stop hurting. That was probably the result of just how badly he'd overreached himself the previous morning.

The nurse that showed up to get him was cheerful. He grunted at her, listening to her with only half an ear until she mentioned all the excitement, about someone pretending to be a patient, all that crap that Landel had mentioned.

Renji gave her a narrow-eyed look. "Dr. Landel is a goddamn lying coward, and he's lying about that, too," he said. Whether it was true or not, there was only so much good cheer he could take on a shitty morning. "I hope he chokes on a cock." No matter how much venom he put in that statement, it wasn't enough.

Then he had to listen to a lecture about language and gratitude for the rest of the walk to the cafeteria, so maybe it wasn't worth it after all. She dragged him through the breakfast line, and he ended up with granola and toast and tea and a cinnamon roll, because not even a shitty fucking night could ruin his sweet tooth. Though that thing was looking a little too sweet.

The cafeteria was pretty much empty; he had his run of the place. He sat himself about as far from the doors as he could get, and proceeded to stare at his breakfast.

Comments

[empty-death.livejournal.com]

Faust was again surprised. He woke up. And when one does not remember falling asleep in the first place, it is an unsettling feeling. Just as it was the time before this. Sitting up, and bringing a hand up to his chest with a wince he looked around the room.

Roommate: asleep. Javert: Not here. He guessed the other man had also been taken back to where ever it was that he'd come from.

Damn it all. Frowning, he moved to get out of bed. He'd never gone so long without a dose and the effects were starting to make themselves known. Aches all over his body, downright pain in his chest. And his hands were shaking. He frowned.

After gaining his beloved back, he'd cut back on his drug usage. She hadn't liked the addiction. So, he was thankful that the worst of the symptoms of withdrawal were over with.... but he hadn't stopped taking it entirely. There was still the pain of simply existing daily with all that he'd done to his body.

And now, without his dearest wife beside him, for the first time in a while, he felt the desire, the nearly desperate want for one, just one shot. But it was never just one...

So, when the vile nurse (laughable) came to collect him for breakfast, Faust tried again.

"Where is my wife?" And he received the same answer in response. He felt it was pointless to ask again. So he followed her to breakfast.

Picking out eggs and toast, as well as juice, Faust found a spot to sit that allowed him to face the door. He wanted to see what kinds of people this place had stolen away.

[championofright.livejournal.com]

The coming of morning was, for once, a good thing for Darkwing. He still preferred the night (though in this place, he might have to change his outlook somewhat), so the daytime he usually spent sleeping.

For that reason, it was strange to be shaken awake by his nurse when the sun was rising instead of setting. In fact, his body (different though it was) seemed to protest the idea. This was not how it went! He'd been going by a nocturnal sleeping pattern, which meant...

It wasn't time to get up, is what it meant.

His nurse didn't seem to understand that, however. "Now, Drake! It's your first day here! You need to get up and mingle with the other patients!"

When she resorted to yanking his sheets away from him, he finally gave in. It was only upon sitting up that he noticed the bandages around his wrist... He bent over to pull up his pant-leg and found bandages there as well. How...?

It couldn't have been Hakkai, since he'd passed out and hadn't had any real bandages, anyway, so the nurses...?

That didn't make much sense at all. But from what he could tell, everything in this place was upside down. Upon standing, he found that putting pressure on his injured leg wouldn't be a smart idea. He was fine with limping. It was better than crutches or a wheelchair.

So he limped his way to the cafeteria and his nurse left him alone after that. Darkwing had planned to get some food - he was starved - but he was distracted when he realized someone was watching the doorway intently. He hobbled over to the man. "Looking for someone?"

[empty-death.livejournal.com]

Faut lifted blue eyes to the man that stopped before in and looked him over. 'Injured, uncomfortable, in pain, possible remedies include....' His mind supplied him with various items and techniques all in the span of a few short moments.

Faust glanced at the door. "I'm afraid the one person I am seeking I have yet to find here." She may not have been here, but she wouldn't have left his side willingly. That thought started to fuel his anger and he had to close his eyes to calm down.

When he opened them again, he looked back up at the man standing there. "Please sit. May I get you some food?" The man was hurt and Faust couldn't let him walk around on an injury. That would be stupid.

[championofright.livejournal.com]

Darkwing could tell that the stranger was examining him... Frankly, it made him feel a little uncomfortable. If he'd been in his normal form, it wouldn't have been so strange, but at this point he felt like somehow this patient knew that he wasn't in the right skin.

That was ridiculous, though. He was just being paranoid.

"Uhh, I don't know about you, but wouldn't it be better if the person you're looking for wasn't here?" Logic dictated that whoever this man was waiting for was someone he cared about, so why would he want that person exposed to this? Then again, maybe it was someone who could handle it. Darkwing wouldn't have been too worried if Launchpad showed up, for instance. His sidekick could be incompetent, but he --

Well, actually, considering how scared of ghost stories Launchpad was.

Darkwing knew for certain that he didn't want his daughter here, though. She probably would have been excited at the prospect of running into monsters, but his fatherly instinct didn't agree with the idea at all.

"Huh?" He glanced up at the question. "Ahh, I can get it myself," he said quickly. It wasn't like he needed to be babied, even if the other man only had good intentions. Before there could be any protest, he started limping over to the food line.

[empty-death.livejournal.com]

Faust clenched his fists at the words. Of course he didn't want his wife here. But he knew, absolutely knew she was being held against her will. She wouldn't leave his side, no matter what. But he couldn't explain that to this man without losing control and that would attract attention.

It was strange for him to start to lose the clarity that had come from working with Yoh and his friends. He'd worked hard to regain his mind after his wife was brought back to him and now... now he could feel it slipping away again. He had to wonder.... when he was gone once more, would he even care enough to make the effort a second time?

When the man started to make his painful way over to the food lines, Faust stood as well and followed. His slow gait matched the limping one and he walked with a slight stoop to his shoulders. He wasn't going to stop someone from being stupid, but he couldn't sit by and watch this man cause more damage to himself.

[championofright.livejournal.com]

Darkwing wasn't sure why the guy was following him. At first he thought that something he had said had upset him, since he wasn't known for his tact, but the other blond wasn't even saying anything. It was weird.

He glanced over his shoulder at him, making sure any anxiety didn't show on his features. Maybe it was silly to keep suspecting the other patients of having bad intentions, but he couldn't help feeling like a foreigner here. He didn't have anything against humans, but he wasn't one himself. He figured it made sense to feel out of place and on edge.

That wasn't going to affect his appetite, though. He grabbed two cinnamon rolls, some hash browns, and a piece of toast - he was reminded of his breakfast regimen at his hideout and smiled. Taking a glass of orange juice and his plate, he looked curiously to the stranger before returning to the table they'd originally come from.

"I'm Darkwing..." Once again he had to bite his tongue to stop from saying the second part of his name. "What's your name?"

[empty-death.livejournal.com]

((Oh so much FAIL!!))

Faust followed him to the line, through it, and back without uttering a single word. He was too busy wondering why this man was so uncomfortable. Admittedly, he had that kind of effect on people. Faust sometimes wondered if Manta would ever stop being so jumpy ... not that he could blame him really... But this man seemed to be even worse.

Settling himself down again before the plate he'd abandoned he nodded his head. "My name is Johannes Faust the eighth. A pleasure to meet you Darkwing. Have you had your injuries checked?"

[championofright.livejournal.com]

"Whoa, that's a mouthful." Most people would have held that sort of statement back, but the name sounded so epic. Then again, he thought Darkwing had been a pretty good choice for his hero name. Definitely more interesting than Drake Mallard, anyway.

He still felt weird going by Darkwing without the uniform. While there was little to no chance anyone was going to recognize him here (which was a real shame), it still made him nervous to be so open about his identity.

The food he'd gathered was a good distraction from such thoughts, though he was in the middle of a bite when Johannes asked the question. Darkwing was polite enough to swallow before he spoke, mainly because he hadn't when people talked with their mouths full.

"When I woke up this morning, they were cleaned and bandaged. Just like that! It's a little weird."

[empty-death.livejournal.com]

Fasut chuckled slightly at that. He supposed his name was rather long. "Please, call me Faust." Everyone else did. Well, his wife didn't, but... everyone one else did.

He blinked in surprise over the explanation. It wasn't all that odd that a patient wouldn't recall getting treatment after a shock or serious injury. Happened quite often actually. "May I inquire as to how you injured yourself Mr. Darkwing?"

[championofright.livejournal.com]

"All right. Faust it is, then." That made things a lot easier for him, anyway. He knew he would have gotten the number all mixed up and started called him the seventh or the thirteenth or something.

Still, he had to wonder about the guy's family history when he was the eighth one.

"I didn't do this to myself," he said, sounding incredulous. What gave Faust that idea? "I got attacked by rotting demon dogs last night. The guy I was with healed my wounds as much as he could. We were stuck out on the field, but the next thing I knew I was waking up and all the cuts were bandaged up." Definitely not normal.

"Oh, and uhh... No need for the Mr. part," he clarified. He knew Faust was just trying to be respectful, but it sounded downright weird.

[empty-death.livejournal.com]

Faust brought up a hand and shook his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't meant to imply that you, personally had done something." He took in the explanation with a thoughtful frown.

Dead dogs? Darkwing said they had been rotting. No chance of it being Frankie then. All the flesh had long since gone from his faithful pet.

"That sounds quite odd," he agreed. Rotting animals allowed to roam when the people here were? If Faust had thought this place to be an actual hospital before, his beliefs would certainly be shaken. As it was, he was just more unhappy. People here were trapped and a mad man was toying with them.

....

Sounded familiar actually. But Faust didn't do that any longer. And he'd never thought of himself as some kind of Lord and Master. That was silly.

"Demon dogs?" He didn't sound like he didn't believe. "Do they regularly roam the facility here?" Neither Javert nor Faust had come across anything remotely familiar monstrous like that last night. And he certainly didn't see anything like that now.

[championofright.livejournal.com]

"It's all right," Darkwing said, waving Faust off. He was known to get his feathers ruffled over the most trivial of things, and it was pretty obvious that Faust meant him no harm.

In fact, there were a surprising amount of well-meaning people in this place. Supposedly insane, but none of them seemed deranged to any level beyond normal. After all, everyone was a little off in their own way, but that was not enough to merit getting thrown in here. Though it seemed like a cover-up, anyway. A very evil-doer thing to do.

"Not during the day," he explained, as if that was obvious. Wouldn't there have been more screaming and mayhem, in that case? "At night there's all sorts of things, though. Or so I've heard." He shrugged. "I've just seen the dogs." Darkwing got the feeling he would see many more monsters that looked like they belonged in Morgana's father's mansion. His luck was just that good.